Hourly Wages of Full-Time and Part-Time Employees in Australia

This study investigates some aspects of part-time and full-time employment in Australia. The main objective is to analyze whether part-time workers receive lower hourly wages than full-time workers who have similar levels of human capital and perform similar jobs. The study is based on unit-record data from Wave I of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The results indicate that unadjusted part-time wage penalties of 21 per cent for men and seven per cent for women can be explained by selection into full-time or part-time employment and controls for human capital and type of job. There are no statistically significant adjusted wage differentials after controlling for selection into type of employment and worker- and job-specific characteristics.